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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25895557">Writers retreat at Anubis B&amp;B</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lonelylittleloser/pseuds/Lonelylittleloser'>Lonelylittleloser</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>House of Anubis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, House of Anubis AU, Just some early 20's kids trying to get by, Mystery, Nothing explicit but more mature themes and mentions you know, University Students, Writer!Patricia, they're young adults you know</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:40:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,621</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25895557</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lonelylittleloser/pseuds/Lonelylittleloser</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Patricia's thesis supervisor recommends a weekend in a creepy B&amp;B to improve her gothic writing, the last thing she expected to do was even have fun. Never mind actively enjoying herself, or meeting some actually interesting new friends, or solving a mystery along the way either. And come to think about it, they still wrote romance in the victorian times. Maybe her novel could use some mild alterations if this week goes well.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alfie Lewis/Amber Millington, Eddie Miller/Patricia Williamson, Jasper Choudhary/Trudy Rehmann, Jerome Clarke/Mara Jaffray, Nina Martin/Fabian Rutter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prequel</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So this is my take on if the gang kinda met on an alternate timeline. They're all aged up to be university graduates, but barely. Kinda mostly plot centred about being a young adult with young adult things because this is a confusing time, but I obviously threw a bit of mystery in there, because it's not creepy towers without it.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The scene around her was not uncommon. The inside of Jason Winkler’s office has become a regular destination for Patricia by this point. Studying at Edinburgh University had been okay the first two years, Patricia got by. She held a decent 2:1 average which is respectable for any student. But in the final year of her undergrad, Jason Winkler arrived and with him, he brought a slew of Gothic literature modules to chose from. Whilst being only 27 when he began lecturing, he was certainly one of the best. By the end of her third year, she had not only been graduating with first class honours, but also offered a place of study for her masters degree, with every scholarship or bursary available to her. She had begun to spend a lot of time sat with Jason, but especially more since she had begun writing her own novel. Alongside the fact Jason was her supervisor for her Masters thesis, he had also became to a degree her unofficial editor. she would sit there with him whilst she assessed her writings and give feedback in anyway he could. As she sat drinking her tea reading the blurbs of more books which lined the office walls, she turned as he finally spoke.</p>
<p>“It’s good Patricia, it’s really good. And if you handed this in as any coursework, I can guarantee you’ll get a first.” He paused, as Patricia knew a <em>but</em> was coming along soon. “Publishing is hard. It’s competitive and nasty. They can find faults in anything. Say this paragraph all about the building. It’s the usual the walls are dark and dingy. There needs to be more. The Victorians and early Edwardians were known for the weird tat and nick naks they’d have lying around the house. The plot too, it’s incredible in theory. It just needs some mild fleshing out you know.” Patricia looked at him and back to the transcript in his hand. She knew there were faults in it, but she wasn’t sure just how to remedy them. She put her tea down and reached for the papers in his hand, flicking through to see various sections of neon highlighted yellow.</p>
<p>“Thanks Jason.” She breathed out feeling a little discouraged. “Is there any chance you’ve finished my thesis at all by the way?”</p>
<p>“That’s something else I wanted to talk to you about. I’m not allowed to throw grades around, but I will tell you off the record, I think it’s one of the best theses I’ve ever read.” She smiled looking back at him, before he continued. “But, you haven’t officially submitted it for grading yet have you.” Patricia shook her head before watching Jason beam up. “Perfect. That means, I can still wrangle some money from the finance team.”</p>
<p>“What do you mean?” Patricia paced towards his desk to see what he was doing on his laptop. Before she knew it, the printer buzzed and two sheets of paper were being released. Jason quickly picked them up, grabbed a pen of his desk and handed one to Patricia and kept the other form for himself to fill out. Patricia looked down at the paper in her own hand and saw what looked like a webpage advertisement printed below ‘<em>Anubis House B&amp;B</em>’ were in bold letters at the top. ‘<em>Built by the famous Egyptologist Robert Frobisher Smyth in the late 1800’s, Anubis House B&amp;B offers its guest a unique bed and breakfast experience. Located in the Cumbia countryside not a far walk from the Frobisher Academy, this B&amp;B offers more than just a bed and breakfast, but an atmosphere’. </em></p>
<p>“As her thesis supervisor, I think this trip would highly benefit her discussion in her ‘<em>myth and mythology</em>’ section and is a chance for enriching her understanding of the topic, not only through reading the materials, but experiencing them.” Patricia glanced up to hear what Jason was writing and speaking aloud in a quiet tone to himself on the funding request form. “And here we go. Now, it’s reading week next week, I’ve been saving that website for a while now. I want you to run to the finance office and request enough funding for say, Saturday this week to Sunday next week.” He stood up quickly before Patricia could even retort and walked towards his coat stand in the corner of his small office and threw on his hat and coat. “Anyway, I have a lecture to teach now, so have fun if I don’t see you before you go. Use this time wisely. One last thing, don’t let the finance team forget they need to subsidize your train fair too. They’re a bloody nightmare them lot I tell you.” And with that he was gone.</p>
<p>“Looks like I’m heading to creepy towers then.” She signed out to herself, whilst standing up and throwing back on her scarf and bag. This wasn’t the first trip to the finance office from Jason’s. He would regularly find some sort of trip to send Patricia on, but this one had to seem the weirdest of them all. Still, she gripped her two forms in her hand and made her way to the finance office, ready for whatever creepiness awaited her.</p>
<p>She looked on her hand and made herself a mental checklist for things to do during reading week</p>
<ul>
<li>Don't get murdered in a creepy old house</li>
<li>Finish the essay on Vampires in current fiction for her supernatural and horror fiction module</li>
<li>Don't get murdered trying to find a creepy old house</li>
<li>Finish reading Dostoevsky</li>
<li>Don't get murdered looking for "inspiration" in creepy old house</li>
</ul>
<p>She couldn't wait. </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>As Patricia arrives in creepy towers, she slowly begins to meet some of the fellow residents of the B&amp;B, but something tells her that the most unpleasant thing about her trip won't be any ghost.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Exiting the taxi after fishing out some change from the pockets in her leather jacket, Patricia walked up to the house. It looked even more creepy and grand in person than in the photographs. She paused to breath in the scenery and try to note all the details, the way the bricks looked, if there were any statue details on the outer wall, what the roof looked like. After a short pause she sighed and made her way towards the hall. She had already had enough of today. First, her train had been heavily delayed. Then, the seats on the train had all been taken so she had to sit on the floor by the doors, forced to move every time the train stopped to let people on. She had garnered a lot of weird looking stares from women who looked as if they could be in their late fifty’s. She had just grumbled to herself about how they were probably mad their bad backs won’t allow them to sit on the floor anymore. Finally, when she was exiting her train, she found herself getting tripped up by the most obnoxious guy she had ever met</p><p> </p><p>“<em>Stick your feet in will you” she had yelled to the blonde haired man leaning against the wall in the station. It was as if he hadn’t expected to get such a response, as his face quickly looked dumbfounded before finally finding his words.</em></p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“Yeah, well why don’t you watch where you’re going Hermione.” He had snapped back, accent a thick American one Patricia picked up on easily.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“Oh great, an American who probably has no idea how to keep to his own space and anything about Britain beyond Harry Potter. I don’t know how trains work in America, or if your weird heehaw road trip culture even allows anyone to so much as touch public transport, but here, we like to get off the train as quick as possible and watch how much space we take up on the platform.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p> <em>“Oh great, another brit who’s only reference to America is cowboys and pop culture films about route 66. Why don’t you use your brit etiquette of minding your own space and back out of mine?” Patricia could feel the anger boiling in her blood at this point and all she could muster out was an enraged sound of frustration. </em></p><p> </p><p> <em>“Fine I will. Hopefully you’ll remember my advice at the next train station you decided to take over.” And on that note she had stormed off, only barely remembering to grab her suitcase.</em></p><p> </p><p>She couldn’t help but feel her blood boil as she remembered the incident. The only bright side, that she was entitled to a refund from Virgin rail after the severe delay, was barely a bright side after all since the money would be returned to the university accounts. She edged further into the hallway of the house and noticed no one around, so yelled a small quick ‘hello’ attempting to gain the attention of whoever owned this place. Normally in a B&amp;B, you would expect some sort of welcome desk, and bell or something. But this just looked like a grand entrance hall, with only a ring dial phone on a small desk adding any semblance of a hint to there being a business here. Anything else in the hallway transported her to another era long gone by now. She began to look closer at the entryway<em>. Find details</em> she thought as she began to look at the grandfather clock in the hallway. She was stopped very shortly by a voice coming from the far end of the hallway.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh hello dear. Didn’t hear you come in.” She smiled a very gentle smile Patricia noted, and had a soothing voice to match. She was wiping her hands on a tea towel when she had walked through the archway, and what looked like a powder, maybe flour was on her hands. “Let me go grab the bookings folder. You caught me mid baking. There’s a honeymoon party tonight so I thought I’d go all out and bake a cake.”</p><p> </p><p>“Someone’s having their honeymoon<em> here?</em>” She tried her best to keep the shock out of her voice, but this just didn’t seem like the kind of place anyone should really call romantic.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh no, they’re just coming for a week. They’re returning from their honeymoon. Said their new rent doesn’t start for another week so why not treat themselves to a small return to normal add on week.” The notion still seemed odd to Patricia but she accepted it and moved on. She watched as the woman flicked through the folder and pulled out a booklet. Inside it was a key, and some documents. “I’m Trudy by the way, and I’m going to go on a whim and guess you’re Patricia, since you’re neither here with a husband or a man yourself.”</p><p> </p><p>“That would indeed be me.”</p><p> </p><p>“Okay well here’s your room key, you’ll be in room number 4 upstairs. You’ll be sharing with a girl called Mara. She’s lovely. Journalist from down south. Hasn’t spoke much. She’s working on a piece about the impact of colonialism in the middle east and she’s working with the school to find out more about Robert Frobisher Smyth. Sounds dead interesting I can’t wait to read it. Though it may make me feel a bit more uncomfortable seeing his face everywhere.” Shared rooms certainly weren’t on the small portion of the website Jason had printed off for Patricia to see. “There’s two showers on your floor and one downstairs. Breakfast is served at 7PM till 10PM, it’s just the usual continental stuff but I’ll be around if you have any requests. The general request is that guests can keep the noise down after ten in the evening just out of curtesy of other guests. If you have any issues I’ll be normally downstairs or there’s our caretaker Victor. You can’t miss his office its straight on the left when you reach the top of the stairs.” Patricia digested in as much of the information as she could before speaking up.</p><p> </p><p>“The books over there in the living room, are we allowed to read them?” She asked pointing to the grand bookcase in the corner. The books on it looked about as old as the house, and Patricia hoped somewhere in there could be a small key to unlocking the depths of her novel.</p><p> </p><p>“Those old things? Of course you can. Though I’m not sure you’ll find anything from this century in there is you’re after a good holiday romance read. Who knows though, you may find a jane Austin first pressing though round here.”</p><p> </p><p>“That’s alright you know,” Patricia said walking towards the shelf but still speaking to Trudy. “Romance is hardly my forte so to speak.” Picking up a book she dusted it off excited to see what was under all the layers of dust, only to discover, a dictionary. This may need more time. She realised it was probably polite to introduce herself to Trudy properly after getting fascinated by the bookshelf and realising she’d likely spend most of her time in the living room in close proximity to the gently staff. “Sorry, it’s nice to meet you again. I’m Patricia Williamson, Masters student at Edinburgh University, English Literature specialising in late Victorian early Edwardian era gothic and horror. I guess I came to the right place.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, lovey you really did. When victors next down I’ll insist he give you a tour of the house. He knows all the names and dates of this place. He may even be able to find some more books for you to read. Once all the guests arrive, I might even make him give a presentation you know. That couple on the honeymoon I told you about, they’ve just came back from Egypt I think they said. I spoke to them over the phone you see and me with my sieve for brains can hardly recall these days. Anyhow, I’ll stop banging on now and help you get these bags to your room.” Patricia mouthed a small thank you before letting the woman lead the way.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>After unpacking most of her suitcase, Patricia pulled a notebook from her bag and begun making as many notes as she could think of. Details about the architecture, the flooring, the multiple stuffed animals lying about, any small trinket she could recall seeing. She looked around the room itself and noted whilst it wasn’t the definition of modern, it was most certainly not as dated as the living room, and mostly just a bit bare. She did however pay attention of the bay window and the curtains which looked as if they could have come with the house. She landed herself back on her bed before flipping her phone up and down in her hand toying with what to do. She went to her contacts list and hovered over the section marked as J for a while, finger flicking between two recipients. In the end, she clicked and dialled the number under <em>Joy.</em></p><p>“<em>What’s this I hear about you being in Cumbr</em>ia?”</p><p>“Long story short, my novel is missing ‘<em>something</em>’ and a long weekend away in a creepy Victorian house might be a cultural experience.”</p><p>
  <em>“By any chance is this yet another suggestion from a certain deep voiced, tall scholarly man at all?”</em>
</p><p>“Not this again Joy, I’ve told you he’s just an advisor and maybe a friend.”</p><p>
  <em>“Patricia in all my years of knowing you, you have never been the type to do these find myself trips, suddenly Mr tall dark and handsome shows up and you’re apparently had a new writing epiphany every week, what’s that about then?”</em>
</p><p>“He’s just a hard man to say no to when he’s throwing these kinds of suggestions to you all the time.”</p><p>
  <em>“Oh, hard to decline, what propositions have been offered them?” Patricia could practically feel the smirk down the phone as she rolled her eyes at her friends’ sense of humour. </em>
</p><p>“Nothing like that I’ll have you know which you already know. Anyway, he’s my supervisor so even if I did like him I could never go there anyway.”</p><p>
  <em>“You know you just find problems where there isn’t one in the first place. You have a few months left of your masters. There is a very attractive man who devotes more time to you than just a supervisor checking up on your thesis. Hell I saw my supervisor barely once a month. You actively are attracted to people who you know you could never go for, you have your excuses ready before you even think you could have a crush.”</em>
</p><p>“What’s that supposed to mean?”</p><p>
  <em>“It means, Roman Lewis in high school who you had a crush on, you always said you would never go there because his essex accent was too hard for you to understand. Martin Evans in sixth form, you couldn't even come up with a creative excuse, you just said his name's Martin. What is actually stopping you from trying?”</em>
</p><p>“Nothing is stopping me Joy, I just happen to be unlucky in that I fall for people who have 1 major issue I can never look past.”</p><p><em>“No I think you choose to hyper fixate on that issue for your own benefit. Listen, use this time to try and work some courage up. Maybe ring him outside of office hours to tell him about some super exciting breakthrough you’ve had and then maybe the conversation can lead to a “what are you wearing” sort of phone call</em>.”</p><p>“Joy it’s a shared B&amp;B room,”</p><p>
  <em>“You’re making excuses again is all I heard.”</em>
</p><p>“Well I heard I was only ringing to ask if you wanted me to get you a postcard but I’ll take that as a no then.” This one garnered another laugh from Joy through the line. “Anyway, I just wanted to know how you’ve been lately, any exciting plans, new dates on the horizon, have any exciting new men or women swept you off your feet?”</p><p>
  <em>“It’s hard to meet any new men and women when all the options I seem to have are either 40 or above or below 16.” </em>
</p><p>“So, still working in the dinosaur school are we? I thought your placement was meant to have changed by now?”</p><p>“<em>So did I, God I hate all the staff so much there. They’re completely patronizing to me, think I’m ill equipped to teach students whilst they use 40 year old teaching methods that have been proved ineffective.”</em></p><p>“Hey well, I’m hear till next Sunday, and I’m not far from you, so I was thinking I could escape this place for a day or, you could come visit if I can scope out and fresh meat you might like.”</p><p>
  <em>“Patricia you always know what to say to make a girl feel special. I’ll text you later in the week to confirm any plans. Also I should probably go now, I have a mammoth stack of homework to mark.”</em>
</p><p>“Alright, hopefully see you soon. Bye.”</p><p>As soon as the phone call had ended, Patricia stared back at the phone again, looking at his name wondering if she should take Joys advice. Then, as quickly as the thought came, she shoved in back to the back of her mind. The most useful way to spend her time now was finish unpacking and start work on one of her essays.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Patricia had been sat in her room for about an hour before the door opened and who she assumed to be her roommate walked in. The girl hadn't noticed Patricia sat there, most likely because she was located behind the door, and the new girl was flipping through a pile of paper frantically as she walked in, her brow furrowed deeply as if she was confused, or simply putting together the last pieces of a jigsaw. Finally, she sat on her bed and after flipping a few more pages eventually looked up and seemed to jump at the sight of the girl. </p><p> </p><p>"God you scared the living days out of me." </p><p> </p><p>Patricia laughed a bit with the girl before standing up and walking over to her. "Sorry about that, I went to say hi as you walked in but you looked pretty concentrated." She motioned to the stack of papers on the bed before extending her arm out to the girl. "Patricia by the way, and I'm assuming Mara, from what Trudy's said, unless there's more secret roommates lying about here." </p><p>They both laughed at that comment before Mara seemed to catch her breath from the earlier fright. "I'm guessing you failed to find the shared accommodation part of the website too." Patricia simply nodded to this before mara resumed. "Sorry if I seemed a bit oblivious when I walked in, I've been trying to research this story for weeks and I keep end up going on so many different tangents."</p><p> </p><p>"Is this your post colonialism piece?" Mara looked shocked for a second but Patricia quickly filled in any questions Mara was about to ask. "Trudy."</p><p> </p><p>Mara sighed and rolled her eyes. "Ah, it all makes sense now. She is so lovely, but man can she talk." As Mara began to attempt to rearrange the piles of paper into an organised collection, Patricia noticed the headline of one paper and decided to ask about it. </p><p> </p><p>"Robert Frobisher Smyth, what's the guys deal obviously I know this house was built by him, but why was he so famous? I never knew people had heard of that geezer I just saw the name on the website and went who."</p><p> </p><p>"Famous or infamous?" Mara then pulled out a newspaper clipping from the edge of her bed to hand to Patricia. "He was a well known archaeologist, but, he was accused of tomb robbing when he returned to England. The Frobisher Smyth family were found innocent in a court of law, but no one ever managed to find out what happened to the missing artefacts." She then pulled out another picture clipping from the side and showed Patricia. "This is what the expect some of the artefacts would have looked like. But no one knows what they would do. Only speculation."</p><p> </p><p>"Okay these guys might actually be more cool than I gave them credit for. I just assumed they were your usual rich victorian couple. Wake up at nine, send the child to the work house, have the chimney sweep get stuck I again, eat some out of date fruit and then fight of vampires in the evening."</p><p> </p><p>Some part of the joke had clearly worked on Mara, who was now giggling away at the end of the best. "I'm so glad you're here, the last girl I roomed with was a nightmare. She was up all night, clipped her toenails and threw them across the room. And she left her underwear everywhere." </p><p> </p><p>"Erm, I do that what are you trying to say about me?" Patricia asked before watching Maras face turn bright red as if she was embarrassed to have ever insulted someone to their face before. "I'm only kidding you, god that sounds disgusting. How long have you been here for and how long was she?" </p><p> </p><p>"I've been here for six days now. She's been here for four and I couldn't take another second. Do you know anyone who bites their toenails? Because I didn't till four days ago."</p><p> </p><p>"Tell me about people with no manners, on my way here this American guy, he fully tripped me up, no apologies, no consideration. I couldn't stand him" </p><p> </p><p>Mara rolled her eyes and suddenly yelled "He is the literal worst!"</p><p> </p><p>"You've met him then?" </p><p> </p><p>"God I wish I hadn't. He just seems so obnoxiously in love with himself. Just then in the living room..." Before Mara could continue any further Patricia shot up from the edge of Maras bed in utter disbelief at what she had just heard. </p><p> </p><p><em>"The living room?" </em>Patricia had practically screamed those words out of her mouth, still in the utter shock at what she had just heard. Well, Jason did once say maybe some drama would spice up her novel. This is not the kind of inspiration she had wanted. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope you all enjoyed this, and our lovely Joy getting involved. I'm really hoping there's no typos because at 4AM UK time my proof reading isn't the same quality as normal. Have a Nice day lovelies x</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. House of introductions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>As new guests continue to check in, the residents at Anubis B&amp;B slowly begin to meet one another, before preparing for their first night as a group together in the b&amp;b</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Mara didn’t have as much time as to blink before Patricia was stood up and rocketing towards the door and down the hallway. It took a second for the brunette to process what was happening, before she too was rolling off of her own bed to follow the new girl down the corridors before eventually catching up to her on the stairs. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Patricia what are you doing?” She was slightly out of breath, not from the length of the journey, but from the pure velocity which the redhead had her keeping up with. Despite her parents’ athletics careers, she had found solace in books and her studies, and preferred to avoid situations like this one, but from the look of anger she had seen in Patricia’s eyes she thought it best to follow her to make sure she doesn’t get evicted from the B&amp;B before her week even begins.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I swear if that American rat is downstairs I will…”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Excuse me?” Patricia had been cut off almost instantaneously by a voice from down below in the hallway which stopped both of the girls in their tracks, 8 steps off the ground level stunned to that step. Almost in sync, they peered over the banister to the floor below them, then faced back to each other before Patricia spoke first.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Mara, that American you saw in the living room earlier,” Mara nodded equally as confused by the whole situation, “They were definitely a guy, weren’t they?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>An enormous roar of laughter escaped the living room as five of the residents sat with tea and scones Trudy had gifted them not long ago being urged to ‘get to know each other’. After the debacle in the hallway, Patricia and Mara had found it fairly awkward trying to explain to the American voice from the hallway that, no, they indeed were not calling her a rat. To their relief, the girl and her partner had seemed to find the situation hilarious and they had gone to the living room to talk further, where they found a blonde girl already in there with a copy of Elle in her hand.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“So how long have you guys known each other then? Was it love at first sight?” The blonde girl had asked after hearing tales of the couple’s honeymoon antics in Egypt and hilarious tales of almost losing a Camel in the desert. It was this question now which had made the couple blush a deep crimson.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Well Amber, you see,” Nina had found herself stumbling for words now and Fabian hadn’t seemed to be much use either. “I mean, I guess you could say that,” When Nina turned to see Fabian opening and closing his mouth like a gold fish she realised it was definitely her turn to tell the story. “It was sort of a one-night stand, that didn’t become a one night stand.” The whole group looked in equal confusion at her vague explanation and all were dying to hear this story.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Now this I just HAVE to hear for myself.” Patricia leaned forward on her chair and rest her chin on her elbow fully intrigued by this story. Despite her own lack of a sex life in recent years, she loved to hear stories people had, as if she was living vicariously through them. Nina looked at Fabian before he eventually found the words to take over.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Well, we both went to KCL…”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You were going to have a one-night stand at a fast food place?” Amber responded looking baffled by their statements.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“No, Kings College London, as in the university.” Fabian suddenly tried to regain his train of thought before carrying on with this conversation. “And anyway, the night before second term of our second year started, my flatmate and I went out to the Students Union bar before going on a night out, and that’s where we met Nina and her friends. Then we chatted and had a nice time. After we left for a club, my flatmate was telling me all about how I need to throw myself out there and I should have got her number, funnily enough, Nina ended up at the same club as us so after an earful from him, I ended up asking her if she wanted to go back to mine. Bear in mind I haven’t had a one-night stand before and was a frightened mess.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“But…” Nina carried on for him, “Neither had I, and I had actually just had the exact same earful from my housemates about how I’m not living the Uni experience and he was so checking me out,” Before she carried on she looked over to her husband and let out a low laugh. “so you see, neither of us were all that experienced with what was going on, and we were trying to undress each other and we both kept apologising for how bad we were doing at being sexy, and then I asked Fabian if he just wanted to watch a movie and cuddle instead since we both weren’t doing fantastic, and I was expecting some anger because I’ve turned guys down before in clubs and they just treat you like shit. But instead, his face just did the cutest smile.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“But, when Nina left the next day, I realised I forgot to give her my number, or add her on Facebook. So, I spent the whole week wallowing because she was just so lovely. Till Friday, when I went to my Egypt lecture.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hist.235” They both said in sync and then looked at each other smiling. “You remember the course code.” They said yet again in sync, and lit up again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Now this is all really cute but how did you guys go a whole year without realising you were on the same course?” Patricia asked taking in all the details of their story.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“We weren’t taking the same course, I took Archaeology and Nina took history, so a lot of our modules crossed over but this was the first one we actually had together. It was when I was taking my laptop out of my bag and I just see this gorgeous light brown hair in the corner of my eyes and suddenly she’s sat next to me, then I knew she was something special and fate had given me a sign.” This had earned a massive ‘Aww’ from Amber who looked like she might explode from a story about a mismatched drunken night of almost sex resulting in what would hopefully be a long-term happy marriage. After Fabian and Nina exchanged another glance, they both felt their cheeks burning up again at the circumstances at which they came to be, and decided to change the topic. “So anyway, Patricia, tell us all about this guy at the Train station, sure it must have been a lovely welcome to Cumbria.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Patricia could practically feel her eyes roll to the back of her head as she thought about the dick from the station earlier. “He was honestly just so rude, like, you don’t lean with your legs halfway across the platform, and he just didn’t care to apologise at all. Like, what was the need for any of that behaviour.” Satisfied that the conversation had safely been changed, Fabian carried on.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“But Mara, you also saw an American guy in this house?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Well yeah, but, I mean clearly there’s more than one American in Cumbria, it could be a totally different guy you know. You guys should have seen the speed that Patricia shot out of our room at though, she was raging when she thought it could be him.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I mean, it still could be him.” Patricia spoke with a mouthful of scone, before swallowing it down strongly. “And if it is him, he’s cruising for a bruising if he tries any more wise-cracks.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Who’s cruising for what bruising?” A familiar voice came from the living room doorway causing the gathering to quickly spin their heads.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What was surprising to everyone was that Patricia wasn’t the person to seem the most emotional to see him there but instead, Fabian almost choked on his tea. “Eddie?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You know this guy?” Patricia and Mara both were now the ones to be confused.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“This is my college flatmate, the one I was telling you about, who I thought was in America right now?” The whole room seemed to be just as confused as one another, and Amber, seeming to be the voice of reason, whilst also being the most confused, offered a whole new suggestion.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hey guys, just throwing it out there, can someone please explain one at a time what’s going on right here?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>…</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“So, your dad, the one you’ve been back and forth for the past three years, should I, should I not visit him, works at the school down the road?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yuh huh.” Eddie said casually getting more comfortable in the arm chair, and looking around to see everyone. “Also, Fabian it’s so nice to finally visit your home county, I had the warmest welcome at the train station by Yacker over here.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Patricia practically turned a bright red as dark as her hair when that comment was made. “Name calling at this age, are we? How very funny.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Fabian ignored both of their tittle tattling as he continued on with his run down of events.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“So, you came back here and had some lovely run ins with Patricia and Mara, and now we’re all staying in the same B&amp;B. Well, if this doesn’t sound like a fantastic start to the week, I don’t know what is.” And suddenly everyone looked around the communal space they were in wondering just how much of each other they all would see. The thoughts were stopped when two people walked in through the front door. Maras head peaked over to the two men who had just came over and suddenly smiled when she was who had just walked in and waved them into the living room. As they came inside, they nodded their heads and said hellos to all the new people in the room.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Wow, it’s practically a whole new set of people from when I left this morning.” The taller man with swishy dirty blonde hair said in a deep accent, almost dazed by all the new faces who had joined the B&amp;B just today.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yeah, what happened to nail flicking girl Mara, did you finally snap and throw all her clothes out the window?” The shorter one asked the girl. It was obvious these two must have been here a while longer and already made well enough acquainted with the journalist to be on first names basis.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Thankfully, she left all on her own accord, but give it another day and it would be raining suitcases outside.” She said in a bubbly tone. “Anyway, Alfie and Jerome, meet some of our new housemates. Safe to say, I think you’ve missed your fair share of drama when you were out.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The dirty blonde clenched his fist over his heart in a mocking manor and spoke in a pained voice “But Mara you know I love drama.” They were all stopped when Trudy popped into the kitchen and saw them all in the communal space.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh, good almost a full house. Well, I’ll tell you all now whilst you’re all here, I’ve put on a bit of a spread tonight, and don’t go expecting it every night it’s still only a bed and breakfast, but I always love a good wedding and thought it’d be a nice surprise to the bride and groom. It’s alright if you already have plans though, I got a bit carried away. But there is a few bottles of prosecco as well.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Trudy, that is the absolute sweetest, and we were supposed to find a pub somewhere to meet with Fabians godfather, but if there’s a spread here, I guess that’s even better.” Nina responded smiling from ear to ear at the thoughtful gesture from the B&amp;B keeper, before quickly adding on to the end of the sentence “Of course, only if he’s allowed to come to the B&amp;B.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Of course, he is don’t be daft. Any who, it’ll probably not be out till about half 7, so feel free to go about as you wish. And of course, no one’s obliged to come, but I have been told I make the best red velvet cake this side of the north west, so it’s at your own risk not coming.” And with that she retreated back to the kitchen.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Everyone was still in a rather confusing place, it was clear that there was some kind of dynamic between this group of near strangers, but sitting together and having a mini party seemed like another thing which they all hadn’t considered how to act in that manor. However, Amber seemed more than ready to break the ice for this one.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Might I propose all the girls come to my room, and we can all get to know each other while we get ready, because Nina I’m not sure what you’re thinking, but this feels like the kind of occasion to dress up for.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You know what Amber, I think that’d be really nice. It feels a bit like freshers’ week all over again you know. Plus, you only get to have an impromptu honeymoon party with strangers once am I right, might as well look nice for it, right?” Nina smiled seeming to take it in her stride this atmosphere they were in. It did sort of feel somewhat like fresher’s week. The new people, the fact they’d all have to share a couch, knowing they were all likely to drink far too much tonight. Yep, the memories were certainly there. “Fabian, look sharp, I want to see my husband looking his finest.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“And boys, please put some effort in.” Amber responded already excited about the night ahead.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hey, we haven’t even said if we’re going or not.” Eddies response seemed to rile up Patricia, because although even she felt apprehensive about a night of drinking with a bunch of people she hardly, she completely found herself already disliking him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Well slime ball, if you want to stay in your room all night, that’s up to you, I can’t imagine the spirits being highly doused without your presence.” And suddenly like that Patricia had realised this trip she had really agreed to stepping out of her comfort zone. More than just idle chit chat with some people, she was engaging with these people properly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hey, he had better be kidding, my best man isn’t allowed to miss this once in a lifetime B&amp;B spread. That would just be rude now wouldn’t it.” Fabian smirked at Eddie knowing full well this wasn’t his friend’s ideal night. Eddie much preferred in their University days to be clubbing, or a cosy night in. Never one for those in between mixer events. But he knew he wouldn’t back out of this if Fabian pulled the best man card and Eddie obviously relinquished an ‘I’m in’ in no time. Jerome and Alfie also agreed to the decision stating that it would be rude for Alfie to not demolish a whole spread in five minutes, and Mara of course decided she was in too, not one to be the only person left out.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“So, it’s agreed then. We all meet back down here at half 7. Dressed nicely.” Amber said, and as they all nodded, amber hurried the girls up to her room as the boys walked to their own respective rooms.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What harm could eight young graduates all cause after a few drinks?</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry if this seems a bit rushed, I lost basically a lot of it but really wanted to get this out. It's sort of a filler chapter, how they meet each other, with a splash of Fabina cuteness. I can finally sleep now.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It's a tad short, I just kinda wanted to write the set up and I spent today being sad about how much I loved Jason and just wanted to write him back in somehow. Anyway, I hope people enjoyed the sneak peak at what is yet to come. See you soon lovelies.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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